by Eric Vall
I knew I couldn’t hear the magical weapon while it was in the case, but it was as though it had taken hold of me and pulled me closer to it. I shook my head and soldiered closer to the camouflaged case on the wall with gritted teeth, but I wasn’t about to let a chunk of wood and string keep me from my mission.
“Lord Evan,” Alyona murmured as she grabbed my arm. “Do you want me to get it? I can carry it with the Flame.”
“No,” I growled and then caught myself. “I’m sorry, princess. I don’t want you to have to deal with this cursed thing, let alone two of them. I can handle it.”
“I understand,” the princess said with a sweet smile. “Tell us if you need help, though, okay?”
“I will,” I agreed as I turned back to the case.
I reached forward and pulled open the glass door to see the large Bow hanging inside. The ivory white grip gleamed in the torchlight, and even the string seemed to glow as I got closer. Then I took a breath and stretched my fingers toward the wooden handle.
Just before my fingertips touched the mahogany, a rush of wind hit my face with a force that nearly knocked me backward. I closed my eyes against the flow of air, and when I opened them, I was standing on the beach of my spiritual sea. The dark waves lapped onto the shore as the sun shone overhead, and I looked around in confusion.
“What the hell?” I murmured. “How--”
“You brought me closer to my brother,” a familiar, smoky voice replied from behind me in a cold, hateful whisper. “We are much stronger together.”
I whipped around to see a woman standing before me. Her skin was the color of gold, and she was decked out in full battle armor. Her golden breastplate featured the same gems that decorated the sides of the relic, and its Latin inscriptions were tattooed down each of her arms and legs in large, black script. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a braid that fell halfway down her back, and her piercing blue eyes filled my body with the same cold dread I’d felt when I first saw the Sundex in the catacombs.
“Who are you?” I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew. “How the fuck did you get into my spiritual sea?”
“My name is Rana,” the woman said with a dramatic bow. “I am the spirit of the Sundex. I had to work hard to travel here from your spatial storage, though most of my enemies are not skilled enough to recognize when I have begun my attack. You must be a wise cultivator, dragon.”
“Actually, I just learned a couple months ago.” I smirked. “Guess you picked the wrong dragon.”
“That’s impossible!” Rana hissed, and she narrowed her electric blue eyes at me before she chuckled and shook her head. “Well, it is of no matter to me. I have fought and won many battles with humans and creatures of all types. Dragons are liars who will say anything to add to their horde.”
“Maybe the ones you’ve met,” I countered, “but I have no intention of keeping you here with me. You are no treasure. You mean nothing to me--wait, what do you mean you’ve begun your attack?”
Rana bared her teeth in a cold semblance of a smile, and she drew a long sword from the scabbard at her waist. Even her weapon was made of gold, from the tip of the hilt down to the blade. The handle was covered with diamonds that sparkled in the sunlight, and she brandished the weapon for a moment. Then she charged at me with the sword held high.
How the hell was I supposed to get my own sword here? It had taken Rana days to get to my spiritual sea from my storage, and now I had approximately five seconds to get it and defend myself from an ancient spirit.
The relic spirit released a wild battle cry as I conjured a fire shield and held it over my head. Her sword slammed into the shield with considerable force, and my knees buckled under the weight for a moment before I shoved her back. Rana screeched and came at me again with her sword swinging wildly, but I blocked every blow.
Then she stepped back, took a deep breath, and studied me for a moment.
“You are a more worthy opponent than I expected, dragon,” Rana murmured. “But you will soon understand my power.”
Suddenly, she moved with a newfound quickness and stood next to me. I barely moved my shield in time to take the brunt of her next strike, and then she stepped in the opposite direction and thrust the hilt into my ribs with a powerful blow that took my breath away.
“Oof!” I staggered to the side to catch my breath in great heaves. Then I sent a wave of my healing magic down to my shattered rib cage, so I could fully inhale again.
“What is this?” Rana growled as her eyes shot from my side to my face. “You can heal? What kind of sorcerer are you?”
“I told you,” I chuckled. “You picked the wrong dragon. I’m like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”
Rana screamed, and the sound pierced my ears for a moment before she charged me again. She swung the sword in a perfect arc to take out my jugular, and I adjusted my shield to take the brunt of the blow. Then her sword stuck into my fiery defense, and I took advantage of her confusion. I threw the shield back at her, and she stumbled backward.
Next, I conjured a fire sword and started toward her to strike, but she dodged the first blow as though she was ready for it. Then Rana yanked her own blade out from my shield and held it up in a defensive position, and as we circled each other in the sand, I could see her eyes move in several directions, like she was calculating my options for an attack.
I decided to test the theory and took a step back toward her. She reacted immediately with a swing that nearly swept me off my feet, but I leaned back to avoid her and danced to the side.
“You are a quick one, dragon,” Rana murmured with a smile.
“Quicker than you expected?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Perhaps,” she replied. “Still not quick enough.”
The spirit rushed me again, and I raised my fiery blade just in time to stop her sword from splitting my head in half. Then I used a move Laika had taught me to spin the sword around and return the blow with a slice to Rana’s midsection.
“Oh!” the spirit cried out in surprise as she put a hand to her wound.
When she lifted her fingers, golden blood dribbled down her skin and dripped onto the sand.
“Was that quick enough for you?” I smirked.
“Filthy creature,” Rana growled, and she swung her sword in a wide arc that caught me by surprise and smashed into my shoulder. “You will pay for that!”
Rather than slicing through me, the blow tossed me across the sand. I looked over at my shoulder and felt a throbbing pain, but the blade hadn’t cut through my skin.
“A sword can be used in many ways,” the spirit sneered as she stood over me.
“I agree,” I grunted as I conjured a fiery dagger and planted it into her boot with a flick of my wrist.
“Bahh!” Rana shrieked and tugged at her leg.
I rolled away and stood with my fire sword in position as I sent my healing magic down my shoulder, and then I rushed her with an arcing swing of my blade. Just before I sliced through her stomach again, though, she ducked and kicked her other leg into my legs. I tumbled into the sand, and my sword skidded a few feet away.
I’d gotten the jump on the spirit a couple times, but she seemed to always be one step ahead of me.
Then there was a flash of white light, and Rana shielded her eyes as Miraya appeared on the sand.
“Lord Evan!” my lover cried out as she rushed over to me and kneeled in the sand. “What’s wrong? Are you--”
“Ahhh, a fellow spirit!” Rana declared and stabbed her sword into the sand as she yanked the dagger from her boot. Then she flexed her foot as she watched Miraya with a growing sense of confusion.
“Who the hell are you?” Miraya growled as I rose to a crouch. “How did you get in here?”
“I’m Rana, spirit of the Sundex,” the woman replied and lifted her chin proudly. “Have you come to help me conquer the dragon? I don’t often share my victories with anyone but my brothers, but I shall make an exception.”
&
nbsp; “No!” the sword spirit gasped and then narrowed her eyes. “But I will help him conquer you, evil relic spirit.”
Rana took a step back with her hand pressed to her chest. Her brow was furrowed, like she was shocked that Miraya wasn’t on her side, and the Sundex spirit pulled her sword from the sand again.
“Then I shall conquer you both instead,” Rana hissed.
“I need my sword,” I murmured to Miraya. “How do I get it over here?”
“Just imagine it in your hand,” my lover replied under her breath. “Imagine its weight, the handle--”
She was interrupted as Rana initiated another attack, but this time, she swung her sword wide enough to catch Miraya with the blade.
I wasn’t about to let that happen, though,
“You fucking bitch,” I rumbled as I dove forward to stab her in the gut.
Before her blade could connect with Miraya, Rana was plowed backward into the sand and landed on her ass, and then I tumbled past her with a somersault and crouched to face her.
“You will regret that, dragon,” she muttered as we both got to our feet.
“I doubt that,” I scoffed. “You won’t lay a hand on Miraya.”
“Oh?” Rana raised a golden eyebrow and smirked. “And why is that?”
“Because she’s mine, and I’ll rip your arms from your body and beat you with them first,” I growled.
I tried to shift into my dragon form, but nothing happened. I grunted and tried again, but I stood in my human body as Rana began to laugh.
“What’s wrong, dragon?” the spirit teased. “Are you nothing more than a man in your spiritual realm?”
“I may not be able to shift here, but I’m certainly more than a man,” I shot back.
Then I conjured two fiery daggers as I charged her again, but she leaped over my back and flipped to her feet in the sand behind me.
“Almost,” she laughed.
Before she could take another breath, I turned and launched the daggers at her face. She cocked her head to the side and narrowly missed the first, but the second dagger was on target. The blade sliced through the side of her face and tore off a chunk of her ear.
“Ahhh!” she screamed as she reached up to her bleeding ear. “You will bow to me, dragon!”
“Never,” I hissed. “I bow only to my king.”
Rana growled and lifted her sword for another attack.
As she rushed toward me, I shot webs at her feet, but the sticky bindings sailed under her boots as she jumped over them. Then I conjured a fireball in each hand and threw them, but she moved with a swiftness that carried her around the flaming projectiles and then she appeared in front of me. I quickly called forth another fire shield and blocked her swinging blow just before she drove the blade into my chest.
“Stupid dragon!” Rana yanked the sword back with a frustrated battle cry. “I will have your head!”
“I don’t think so,” I replied with a smirk as I backed up toward Miraya.
“She is quick,” the sword spirit whispered behind me. “A worthy opponent, but I don’t understand why she’s here.”
“I think this is how the relics take over someone,” I murmured as Rana paced in front of me and considered her next attack. “They must get inside the person’s head and take control somehow, but she wasn’t counting on me being a cultivator. She was just as shocked as I was when we both arrived on the beach here.”
“I thought their magic was neutral,” Miraya murmured.
“We care not for the desires of mortals,” Rana declared. “We only desire true power, and whoever stands in the way of that will be slayed.”
“Oh, well, that answers that,” I muttered.
The golden spirit cackled and then charged again.
I summoned the stones in the sand, and a rocky wall began to rise up in front of Rana. She picked up speed, dove over the wall, landed on her hands, and rolled through to spring back up onto her feet.
“You can’t keep me from you for long,” Rana warned.
I narrowed my eyes at her, but she was right. I couldn’t simply defend myself from her the whole time. I had to figure out a way to win.
So, I called on my lightning power, and a bolt of electricity hummed from the sky and narrowly missed the spirit as she sidestepped the attack. Next, I clenched my hands into fists and sent a shockwave of my earthquake magic at her feet. The ground split open between her legs, but Rana leaped over the widening crack to land on her feet.
Then I decided to resort on a power I’d known for much longer than any other tricks, and I took a step toward the water.
Her blue eyes followed my movement, and she rushed me again. This time, I used her momentum, grabbed her free hand, and flipped her over my shoulder into the waters of my spiritual sea. She gasped as her back slammed into the sand underwater and knocked the breath out of her, but before she could react, I crouched down next to the water and put my hand under the surface.
Tendrils of water rose up from the sea and coiled around the Sundex spirit. They squeezed her arms to her sides, and she fought against the bindings for a moment before she screamed at me again. The water magic was a trick I’d learned from the dryads when we were in the forest of Lumin, and it had certainly come in handy now.
“Is she trapped?” Miraya asked as she peered around me at the relic spirit.
“I think so,” I replied and rubbed my chin. “She truly thought she could beat me.”
“I can!” Rana growled fiercely, and then she ripped through the watery ropes and leapt back onto dry land.
“Stay back!” I ordered Miraya as I stepped in front of her.
“Aww, protecting your lover?” Rana mocked, and her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Once I conquer you, I’ll conquer her as well. Then I’ll have the power of a dragon and your sword.”
“You have underestimated this dragon,” Miraya called out from behind me. “You are no match for his power and his heart.”
“I don’t need a heart,” Rana spat out. “But I’ll take his.”
Then she let out another war cry and sprinted toward me with her sword above her head.
Somehow, I knew I had to have the Sword of Hatra to defeat her, and the moment I imagined it in my hand, the blade appeared.
Huh, that was easier than I’d thought.
“Now, wield it with the power of the Nobles of the Sword!” Miraya called out. “You have all the power of the ancestors before you!”
I nodded over my shoulder and turned to face off with my opponent.
“It’s a fair fight now, Rana,” I growled.
When she was within a few feet of me, she whipped the blade around her head and swung it in a sweeping blow that would have taken my head away from my shoulders, but I gripped the Sword of Hatra and blocked her strike.
“How?” Rana hissed as she pressed her blade against mine.
Our faces were close enough that I could see the pores in her golden skin, I blew her a kiss as I shoved her backward with the sword.
The spirit gasped and furrowed her brow, but this time I was on the attack. I rushed her with my own sword, and I dealt strike after strike until she was gasping for air. Then she lifted her blade up to bring it down on my head, and I ducked before I dropped my shoulder and jammed the hilt of my sword under her breastplate and into her soft belly.
Rana stumbled backward and then collapsed onto the sand, and before she could regain her feet, I jumped over and planted my boot on her chest with the Sword of Hatra at her throat.
“No,” she rasped. “This is impossible.”
“I’ve heard that a few times.” I smirked. “Now, surrender, or I take your life.”
“Even the gods couldn’t kill me,” she scoffed. “What makes you think you can?”
“I’ve already drawn your blood,” I reminded her and pressed the pointed end of the blade into her skin.
She took a sharp breath as more of her golden blood trickled down her neck. Then I released the pressure an
d offered again.
“Do you surrender?” I asked.
“Yes,” Rana whispered, and she averted her gaze from mine. “I surrender.”
“What was that?” I put my hand to my ear.
“I surrender!” the spirit screeched and clenched her jaw.
Then she released her own sword, it fell into the sand next to her, and I kicked it away without taking my eyes off hers.
“No, no.” I shook my head. “What was it you said before? Oh, that’s right. If you truly surrender, you will bow before me.”
The spirit’s electric blue eyes flashed with rage, but she knew she’d lost. She glanced at her sword, which now laid several feet away in the sand, and she heaved another dramatic sigh and then nodded her head.
I slowly stepped back, but I kept the sword at her throat as she crawled to her knees.
“I surrender to you, dragon,” Rana declared as she dropped her hands to the sand and lowered her head.
I held my sword next to her bowed head and motioned for Miraya to come join me.
“Now what do we do?” I murmured. “We can’t let her run free in here. Who knows what she’ll try to do.”
“You make a good point, my lord,” the spirit replied as she twisted a lock of white hair around her finger. “You need a way to trap her.”
“Like a cage or something,” I muttered as I imagined a birdcage.
Suddenly, the wrought iron birdcage from my imagination dropped onto the ground like a missile. Sand burst out from the bottom as it landed with a thud, and Rana’s head lifted to see what it was.
“You’re going to keep me in that thing?” she asked with a pout.
“Apparently.” I shrugged. “Get in.”
Rana clambered up to her feet and walked toward the cage with the Sword of Hatra against her back, and she glanced over her shoulder at me with another angry look before she stepped inside.
I slammed the door shut behind her, and a heavy click sounded as the door locked into place. Then a set of familiar words flashed across my vision.